Black and white photo print of the Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) leader Baptiste Lasallier (center) with Indian Agent Charles H. Mix (right) and an Indian supply merchant from New York (left), 1857.
In 1855, a federal treaty moved the Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) people from their reservation near Long Prairie to a site along the Blue Earth River. The Ho-Chunk farmed the area's rich soil with some success but drew the hostility of settler-colonist neighbors who wanted the land for themselves. Though they did not participate in the U.S.–Dakota War of 1862, they were exiled from Minnesota during the conflict's aftermath.
Winneshiek II (second from left) and other Ho-Chunk leaders, at Fort Snelling, c.1865. The man third from the left is thought to be Waukon Decorah, a leader in Ho-Chunk diplomatic relations with the United States.